By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com Steve Teekens believes he is facing increasingly more difficult challenges. Teekens has served as executive director of Na-Me-Res in Toronto for the past 15 years. It’s an Indigenous-led organization that provides shelter space and housing developments to unhoused Indigenous men. “I think we’re among the few male-serving Indigenous organizations in the country,” said Teekens. It’s no secret that when it comes to homelessness in Toronto, Indigenous men face this challenge at higher rates, as emphasized in the city’s 2024 Street Needs Assessment. “It highlighted that of all the Indigenous homelessness, Indigenous men are disproportionately affected among that group with 59 per cent,” Teekens said. And things are not getting better. “It feels like climbing up a huge mountain,” Teekens said. “While climbing…





